Research interests

I am interested in the evolutionary basis of animal behaviour. How social and ecological pressures shape the diversity of animal behaviour at the individual and society levels. More specifically, how animals compete with each other for limited resources, such as food and mates, and how variance in competitive ability leads to skew in reproductive success and ultimately fitness.

Past research

My PhD work focused on the feeding ecology of mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei). The main goal of my research was to better understand the interplay between ecology, behavior and social organization in this species. I demonstrated that the costs of feeding competition are not equally shared among adult females in a group. Moreover, I also examined the proximate mechanisms which are at play. Lastly, we compare the energetics between the two mountain gorilla populations to better understand how variability in ecology gives rise to variation in behavior and life history.

Current research

My current research focuses on the relationships between body size, dominance rank and reproductive success in adult male and female mountain gorillas.

This work is funded by the Max Planck Society and National Geographic.